Dishonesty is an integral part of our social world, influencing domains ranging from finance and politics to personal relationships. Anecdotally, digressions from a moral code are often described as a series of small breaches that grow over time. Here we provide empirical evidence for a gradual escalation of self-serving dishonesty and reveal a neural mechanism supporting it. Behaviorally, we show that the extent to which participants engage in self-serving dishonesty increases with repetition.

Translation for members of Team Kimberlin: Little lies lead to more frequent lies, and eventually lead to larger, more extensive deception. Three years ago:

One of my favorite William “Stolen Valor” Schmalfeldt lies was that Hoge killed his wife. Then it was Krendler that killed his wife. Then he decided it was a group effort that killed his wife. SMH, what a moron.

seems he was the one ignoring that there was an issue. I recall seeing many tell him she needed to see a dr. maybe if he had bothered to pay any attention to her, he could have gotten her to a dr in time to help her. maybe not, but he carriers that burden not anyone else.